g! wrote:this is probably more of an opinion on my part, but the bands/examples that you gave for "protopunk," i usually think of them as "classic punk." there are bands people always associate with the punk movement of the mid 70's like the sex pistols, and thats hard for me to really accept because the sex pistols were actually formed as, basically, a joke, to promote a local sex shop.
also, if you consider punk to be, above all else, counter-culture and counter-mainstream, then those "proto" bands were doing it years before the pistols.
i dunno, its a blurry subject. i think that people see the end of the 70's as the end of true punk because it began to lose its punch, but i honestly believe its still out there. it may have evolved and changed a bit, but then again so has the world and social issues, so i think to have the same punch and the same focus as it did in the 70's would just be, well, boring.
anyway, because i dont consider punk dead, thats why i dont really see a need for "post-punk," even though i know the era it refers to.
Yeah, Proto-Punk/Classic Punk - same thing.
The Sex Pistols were one of the greatest Punk bands of all time. Britain actually thought that they would rile their entire generation to bring down the Monarchy and banned them from almost everywhere! Nobody can do that or even come close any more. Britney Spears is more controversial than any modern Punk acts, unfortunately.
Punk of the '70s was counter-culture and, you're right, so were the Proto-Punk groups. Actually, Rock and Roll was counter-culture music in the late '50s as well - parents were very afraid of Elvis Presley... People don't realize that the Beatles were the sound of the street at the time, too. They were all involved with street gangs and a violent club culture in their hometown. Best example of counter-culture music was the San Fransisco scene in the mid-to-late '60s. Imagine anyone in our generation putting that together! But, what started out as good intentions turned out to be a commercialized/superficial drug culture that killed off some amazing people/musicians.
Punk is still out there, but it was a fad. It's not a force like it used to be... Clearly moronic Alternative-Metal, Pop-Punk/Emo, Pop-Rap. Pop-Country, and 'Indie' are what record companies are selling now (again, unfortunately). Your guess is as good as mine on how to change all the superficial bullshit that sells around into something worthwhile again. But I don't think prolonging a style that already came and went will work - we already know where those styles landed contemporary music (turn on MTV).